Grote Markt 8

Speech Hans Davidson, Grote Markt 8 in Zwolle, March 30, 2016

I am going to tell you a part of the history of this house on the Grote Markt 8. It has been inhabited since time immemorial and probably saw how, in 1349, all Zwolle Jews were murdered by Christians. The then mayor wrote proudly about this.

It was not until 1721 that Jews were allowed to resettle in the city, for a fee and as second-rank citizens, and their share of the population grew over the centuries. For the most part they were simple people with little education, and many were poor.

In 1937 my grandfather Daniel Jakobs, his wife Sophia and their daughters Beppie and Saartje, my mother, came to live here. They started a family business that existed until 1984, selling bicycles, electrical appliances and sports equipment. They had been assimilated into the population and had been seen in the city, my grandfather was first tenor in the Zwols Mannenkoor. My mother was a popular student at the Rijks-HBS and wanted to study economics, my aunt was trained to take over the business later.

That life was completely turned upside down by the occupation by Nazi Germany. The sophisticated gradual measures against Jews took their toll, the shop was taken over by the Nazis.

"Well then come in." My now 90-year-old aunt, who was staying with my grandparents at the time, remembers exactly how my grandmother said that resignedly, when a man rang the bell, reported that he had been appointed as Verwalter and the business was no longer theirs.

Daniel, now “unemployed”, was housed as a forced laborer in camp “De Vecht” in Dalfsen, where he had to dig out stones and tree trunks. They did not want to go into hiding, although that chance was offered: they did not want to burden their friends and did not believe that the Germans would be so bad and most Dutch people so indifferent. At the beginning of October 1942 the camp was evacuated and all residents were taken to camp Westerbork. My grandmother and aunt were also sent there at the same time, from the Grote Markt 8 through the gymnasium of the Gymnasium Celeanum. Both went without protest, because they thought they would be reunited with their husbands. Within a year they and almost all of those who were also deported had been murdered. About three quarters of the Jewish inhabitants of Zwolle, more than 450 in number, did not survive the war.

Today we commemorate three people with a monument that looks back on the past but is also relevant to the present and the future.

Martin Luther King once wrote, "The tragedy of life is not the cruelty of the wicked but the silence of the good." The fact that Stolpersteine are being laid and your presence proves that this does not apply to many.

But are we loud enough? "Well, come in then" is what the government seems to be saying to the now re-emerging anti-Semitism of the Dutch and people who bring this with them as part of their culture, indoctrinated to hatred for people of other dispositions or sexes. The government tolerates intolerance and even asks for understanding. There is a wave of mistrust and hatred towards the strangers now living within our gates and at the same time the same towards Jews, other minorities and women by some of these strangers. There are those who deny the existence of the Holocaust and make its education impossible. At the same time we see an exodus of Jews from Europe, mainly to a country that is the scapegoat in the desert for the far left and right oriented Dutch, newspapers and other organizations, in my view disguised anti-Semitism.

We must ensure that the indifferent attitude of the government and the population that existed in the years before and during the Second World War is not repeated.

How should that be done? Manifestations like these, media coverage and young people's education can help but racial and religious hatred has been around since time immemorial and is only getting stronger. Tougher measures now seem to be needed. It is not just Jews anymore whose existence is in danger, now, more than ever, no one is safe anymore.

While I am not generally in favor of commemoration, I am glad that a tangible remembrance sign of my family now exists. I hope that these stones may lie in front of this house where, ignorant of the sad history, I spent a happy childhood for a long time to come. And that it may look down on a city where women can wear headscarves and men yarmulkes without fear for their safety while there are still Jews in the city.

Again, thank you very much for this initiative and the support of all of you.

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